The wick effect is an alleged partial or total destruction of a human body by fire, when the clothing of the victim soaks up melted human fat and acts like the

wick Wick most often refers to: * Capillary action ("wicking") ** Candle wick, the cord used in a candle or oil lamp ** Solder wick, a copper-braided wire used to desolder electronic contacts Wick or WICK may also refer to: Places and placenames ...

of a

candle A candle is an ignitable candle wick, wick embedded in wax, or another flammable solid substance such as tallow, that provides light, and in some cases, a Aroma compound, fragrance. A candle can also provide heat or a method of keeping time. ...

. The wick effect is a phenomenon that is found to occur under certain conditions.

Details

The wick effect theory says a person is kept aflame through their own

fat In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers specif ...

s after being ignited, accidentally or otherwise. The clothed human body acts like an "inside-out" candle, with the fuel source (human fat) inside and the wick (the clothing of the victim) outside. Hence there is a continuous supply of fuel in the form of melting fat seeping into the victim's clothing. Fat contains a large amount of energy due to the presence of long hydrocarbon chains.

Examples

Mary Reeser case

Mary Reeser (1884–1951) of St. Petersburg, Florida was most likely a victim of the wick effect. It was suspected that she had accidentally ignited herself with a cigarette. The fat which over time had been absorbed by her clothing likely acted as fuel for the fire. At the scene, investigators found melted fat in the rug near Mary's body.

1963 Leeds case

An investigation of a 1963 case in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

included an experiment with a wick effect. A small portion of human fat was wrapped in cloth to simulate clothing. A Bunsen burner flame was then applied to the "candle". Due to the high water content of human fat the flame had to be held on the "candle" for over a minute before it would catch fire:

"One end of the candle was ignited by a Bunsen flame, the fat catching fire after about a minute. Although the Bunsen was removed at this point, combustion of the fat proceeded slowly along the length of the roll, with a smoky yellow flame and much production of
soot Soot ( ) is a mass of impure carbon particles resulting from the incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons. Soot is considered a hazardous substance with carcinogenic properties. Most broadly, the term includes all the particulate matter produced b ...
, the entire roll being consumed after about one hour."

This gives some indication of the slow speed with which the wick effect will proceed.

1991 Oregon murder

In February 1991, in woodland near Medford,

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

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, two hikers came across the burning body of a female adult, lying face down in fallen leaves. They alerted the officials and a local deputy

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

soon arrived. She had been stabbed several times in the upper regions of the chest and back. Both arms were spread outwards from the torso. The lower legs and surface of the neck showed signs of fire damage. The soft tissues of the right arm, torso and upper legs were consumed. The majority of bones of these parts retained their

integrity Integrity is the quality of being honest and having a consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and Honesty, truthfulness or of one's actions. Integr ...

, although

friability In materials science, friability ( ), the condition of being friable, describes the tendency of a solid substance to break into smaller pieces under stress or contact, especially by rubbing. The opposite of friable is indurate. Substances tha ...

was increased. Between the victim's mid-chest and knees the fleshy parts of the body were mostly destroyed. Crime scene personnel reported that the pelvis and spine were "not recoverable", having been reduced to a grey powder. Her killer had soaked the clothes and corpse in nearly a

pint The pint (, ; symbol pt, sometimes abbreviated as ''p'') is a unit of volume or capacity in both the imperial and United States customary measurement systems. In both of those systems, it is one-eighth of a gallon. The British imperial pint ...

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (often shortened to BBQ worldwide; barbie or barby in Australia and New Zealand) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that employ live fire and smoke to coo ...

starter fluid and set her on fire. In the well-

oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

ated outdoor environment, this combination of circumstances—an immobile and clothed body with a high fat-to-muscle ratio, accelerant (lighter fluid), and artificial ignition—made it prime for the wick effect to occur. The murderer was arrested and made a full confession. He claimed to have set the body alight some 13 hours before it was discovered.

1998 experiment

A larger scale experiment conducted for the

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television programme ''

Q.E.D. Q.E.D. or QED is an initialism of the List of Latin phrases (full), Latin phrase , meaning "that which was to be demonstrated". Literally, it states "what was to be shown". Traditionally, the abbreviation is placed at the end of Mathematical proof ...

'' involved a dead pig's body being wrapped in a blanket and placed in a furnished room. The blanket was lit with the aid of a small amount of petrol. The body took some time to ignite and burned at a very high temperature with low flames. The heat collected at the top of the room and melted a television. However, the flames caused very little damage to the surroundings, and the body burned for a number of hours before it was extinguished and examined. On examination it was observed that the flesh and bones in the burnt portion had been destroyed.

2006 Geneva case

In October 2006, the body of a man was discovered at home in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, almost completely incinerated between the mid-chest and the knees, most probably due to

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

while

smoking Smoking is a practice in which a substance is combusted, and the resulting smoke is typically inhaled to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream of a person. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, whi ...

, followed by the wick effect. The chair containing the body was mostly consumed, but other objects in the room were almost undamaged, albeit covered with a brown oily or greasy coating. The source of the fire was most likely a cigarette or cigar. The man's dog also died in another room of the man's apartment; this was attributed to carbon monoxide poisoning.

2010 Galway case

In December 2010, the cremated body of a 76-year-old man was found alongside an open fireplace in his home in Clareview Park at Ballybane in the Irish city of

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

. The fire investigators concluded that no accelerants were used and that the open fireplace was not the cause of the fire. The coroner in the case could not identify the cause of the death due to extensive internal organ damage and concluded that "this

ase ASE may refer to: Organisations * Academia de Studii Economice (the Economic Sciences Academy), in Bucharest, Romania * Admiralty Signal Establishment, a former defense research organization in the UK * ASE Group (Advanced Semiconductor Engineeri ...

fits into the category of spontaneous human combustion, for which there is no adequate explanation". The body of the man, Michael Faherty, was found in the living room of his home on 22 December 2010. The scene was searched by forensic experts from the Gardaí and the fire service, and a post-mortem was carried out by

pathologist Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...

Grace Callagy. Callagy noted that Faherty had suffered from

Type 2 diabetes Type 2 diabetes (T2D), formerly known as adult-onset diabetes, is a form of diabetes mellitus that is characterized by high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and relative lack of insulin. Common symptoms include increased thirst, frequent ...

and

hypertension Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, is a Chronic condition, long-term Disease, medical condition in which the blood pressure in the artery, arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms i ...

, but had not died from heart failure. Callagy concluded that the "extensive nature of the burns sustained precludes determining the precise cause of death". In September 2011, the west Galway

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death. The official may also investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

informed an inquiry into the death that he had searched medical literature, and referred to Professor Bernard Knight's book on forensic pathology, which states that a high number of alleged incidents of

spontaneous human combustion Spontaneous human combustion (SHC) is the pseudoscientific concept of the spontaneous combustion of a living (or recently deceased) human body without an apparent external source of ignition on the body. In addition to reported cases, descripti ...

had taken place near an open fireplace or chimney.

Benjamin Radford Benjamin Radford (born October 2, 1970) is an American writer, investigator, and skeptic. He has authored, coauthored or contributed to over twenty books and written over a thousand articles and columns on a wide variety of topics including urb ...

, deputy editor of the science magazine ''

Skeptical Inquirer ''Skeptical Inquirer'' (S.I.) is a bimonthly American general-audience magazine published by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) with the subtitle "The Magazine for Science and Reason". The magazine initially focused on investigating clai ...

'', questioned why the coroner had "conclusively ruled out" other possible explanations.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite journal , author = Gee DJ , title = A case of 'spontaneous combustion' , journal = Medicine, Science and the Law , volume = 5 , pages = 37–8 , year = 1965 , doi = 10.1177/002580246500500108 , pmid = 14269669 , s2cid = 25482377 {{cite journal , author = DeHaan JD , title = A case of not-so-spontaneous human combustion , journal = Fire & Arson Investigator , volume = 47 , issue = 4 , pages = 14–6 , year = 1997 , oclc=610152071 {{cite news , title = New light on human torch mystery , url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/158853.stm , date = 31 August 1998 , work =

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

{{cite journal , vauthors=Palmiere C, Staub C, La Harpe R, Mangin P , title = Ignition of a human body by a modest external source: a case report , journal = Forensic Science International , volume = 188 , issue = 1–3 , pages = e17–9 , year = 2009 , pmid = 19410396 , doi = 10.1016/j.forsciint.2009.03.027 {{cite news , title = Coroner rules Irish man died of spontaneous combustion , url = http://uk.news.yahoo.com/coroner-rules-irish-man-died-of-spontaneous-combustion.html;_ylt=Atr_sLcZT8NAIX9mEgTVHGIUfcl_;_ylu=X3oDMTQ3aTJzY204BG1pdANGZWF0dXJlZFBuViBGUARwa2cDNmJhZWNkZTktNTVhYS0zYzA5LTlmYzgtNGM3MDM4MTk5YzQxBHBvcwMyBHNlYwNNZWRpYUNhcm91c2VsUmVzb3VyY2VzQ0EEdmVyAzE3MjFhOTZjLWU1ZmQtMTFlMC1hYmIxLTFjYzFkZTAyMGY2YQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTM1OTFvdThkBGludGwDZ2IEbGFuZwNlbi1nYgRwc3RhaWQDNGU0MmIxMmUtZDBhYi0zNGRiLThjODgtNTc5NGNjMjliMmQzBHBzdGNhdANvZGRseS1lbm91Z2gEcHQDc3RvcnlwYWdlBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3 , date = 23 September 2011 , work =

Yahoo News Yahoo News (stylized as Yahoo! News) is a news website that originated as an internet-based news aggregator by Yahoo. The site was created by Yahoo software engineer Brad Clawsie in August 1996. Articles originally came from news services such ...

Fire Spontaneous human combustion pt:Efeito pavio